Grace's Choice
by Manifestfan828
Summary: Grace and Ben decide to spice up their love lives by using an app. Ben finds out that his wife is keeping a secret.


Grace stood in front of her closet wearing only her underwear and her open robe. She had a very important meeting with a new client for her catering company. The client was one of the biggest hotel chains in the metro area and if she could sign on to do a tenth of their functions it would mean a lot of money and security. She wanted to look nice and decided that maybe she needed to go shopping after she landed the big contracts. Maybe she and Olive could even have a mother/daughter shopping day?

Her phone chimed and she knew it meant that she had an alert. She picked up the phone and sure enough, the new app she had installed had left her a prompt. "Have sex is a new location. She leads" She sighed. The doorbell rang.

"Right Now?" She said out loud to no one in particular.

She didn't even bother to tie up her robe. It was going to end up on the floor in 5 minutes anyway. When she and Ben had decided to try the app it wasn't because there love life lacked passion. 20 years after she had first laid eyes on Ben she still wanted him more than ever and she knew he felt the same way about her. But, her catering company was starting to take off and Ben had finally found a teaching position at Astoria University and there had been numerous changes since flight 828 had returned. As much as they loved each other, Ben and Grace had a hard time finding time for each other. She looked out the window to make sure it was her husband. Sure enough, Ben stood outside of the front door. She wondered why he hadn't used his key to let himself in the front door.

Ben stood impatiently at the door. He wasn't really even sure what was supposed to happen. This was the first time they had used the app. Of all the differences he found puzzled him between the time he boarded the plane and when they returned, was the idea that people seemed to be slaves to their devices. Alexia told his family what movies and television shows to watch and what books to read. Now, his phone was telling him when and how to make love to his wife? But, he agreed that he and Grace had been neglecting their relationship lately. And he wanted to make that up to her. Sometimes Ben felt like he had neglected his family before the flight and was still doing it over 6 years later.

Grace bounded down the steps and opened the door to find her adventurous lover standing on the front step. She pulled him into the house before nosy neighbors could start to suspect the truth. She was about to have a romantic liaison at 9:00 am in the morning. He stood in the doorway and looked her up and down, drinking in her barely clothed body. He let out a low whistle of admiration. 20 years after he had first fallen in love with her, she still took his breath away.

"Love, do you always answer the door in the middle of the morning half dressed?" He gave her an appreciative smile.

Grace became self-conscious and quickly pulled her robe closed.

"I saw you through the upstairs bedroom window." She shrugged. "I was getting ready for my catering meeting."

"That is this morning? Maybe we should do this another time?" Ben suggested. Even though now that he had seen her he probably wasn't going to be able to keep his mind on anything except what she wasn't wearing.

"No!" She was quick to reply. "Why didn't you use your key?"

"I left it here this morning. I was on my way back when I got the alert from the app." He shrugged as he slipped off his jacket and loosened his tie. And then slipped it off where it landed on the floor next to his jacket.

Grace ran her hands down his arms and pulled him to her.

"As nice as you look all dressed for work, I am starting to feel a little under dressed." She reached down to unstuck his shirt, but he stopped her by playfully picking up her hand and raising it to his lips and kissing her wrist. He gauged her reaction which was for her breath to quicken.

"Before this goes any farther, I had better ask if your husband is at home." His husky voice nearly drove her insane. He knew the effect he had on her because he gave her a demanding kiss before she had time to answer. She pulled away from the kiss and decided she wasn't sure where he was going with this line of questioning, but she was willing to play along.

"You know Ben is at work. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here." She replied with a sly smile playing across her lips. He continued to hold onto her wrist, which he knew turned her on. She closed her eyes and gave into the feeling of his lips on her pulse point. She had missed having his full attention on her, having his main purpose be to please her. It might be selfish, and she would probably feel guilty later. So many people needed him, but she needed him just as much.

She pulled his shirt from his pants and unbuttoned it with nimble, practiced fingers. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him naked. But, it had to have been a while because he was in better shape than she remembered. It was her turn now to give him an admiring once over. She liked what she saw. She ran her hand over his tight stomach and felt his muscles tighten under her touch. Maybe there was an advantage of being with a younger man?

"You have been working out." She teased.

He flashed the boyish smile that she loved so much. The one that made her feel like a naughty co-ed.

"Faculty is allowed access to the campus gym. It has been helping me channel some of my frustrations." He admitted.

It dawned on Grace what kind of frustrations he meant.

"Oh. It might be mutually beneficial for us both if we found some other way to channel those frustrations."

As if to demonstrate her commitment, she pushed his shirt the rest of the way off of his shoulders and starting working on his pants. She ran her thumb down his zipper which caused him to moan. If he hadn't been hard before, that did the trick. Of course, Grace was getting pretty aroused herself.

"Are you frustrated?" She teased in a low whisper. She had been inching him towards the staircase.

He nodded his head in agreement and his words came out as a barely coherent whisper.

"Upstairs?" He asked nodding his head toward the bedroom. She had worked his pants and underwear down to his ankles.

"I do believe it is my choice." Grace playfully replied as she slipped out of her robe and underwear and stood completely naked in front of her husband. When he had first returned she had been worried about the fact that her body had wrinkles and sags from the 5 and a half years that he was missing. But, Ben had a way of making her feel beautiful, and as if time had stood still. She had also given birth to their daughter 9 months earlier and she had a typical post-partum body. But, he never made her feel less than perfect.

His heels brushed the first step and he was a little surprised when she pushed him to down onto the step.

"My choice" She reminded him as she straddled his lap. "I could take you upstairs and make love to you, but I would rather screw you on the stairs."

If Ben was surprised by her frankness, he was equally turned on. Grace braced her knees against the treads of the stairs and grinded against him. Her knees were going to be sore later.

"Condom?" He pleaded.

"Not necessary. I'm on the pill." She informed him as she took him inside of her in one swift move. Her hands wrapped around his neck as she hung on for dear life.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, surprised.

"It wasn't your choice." She replied swiftly and slightly out of breath.

Anger flashed in his eyes, but her lips crashed down on his in a possessive kiss and all rational thought left his head. All he could do was feel her warmth cocooning around him and making his feel like he was drugged. His hands were on either side of her thighs guiding her angle. Grace could tell by his breath and heart beat that he was close to his climax. But, she wasn't there yet. She removed one hand from his neck and took his hand in hers, moving it from her thigh and guiding it to her core. He realized what she needed and used his thumb to stroke her. Sending her over the edge, as he quickly followed.

They both needed a few second to catch their breath before she stood up on legs that felt like marshmallow cream. Ben blew out a ragged breath. Grace closed her eyes and kissed him on the forehead. She tried to brush past him to go up the stairs, but he held onto her hand.

His eyes met hers, pleading for her to tell him what she was thinking. How had things become so confused and distant between them that she hadn't told him she was on the pill? He knew that when she found out she was pregnant with their daughter it had been a mixed blessing.

Part 2  
Everything that had happened since the plane had returned was a mixed blessing, actually. Cal's cancer was in remission. But, the passengers were faced with the possibility that they only had a limited time to live. Grace had found out she was pregnant, but they were afraid that the baby could be Danny's. It was Ben's daughter. But he had passed on the blood marker and no one was sure what that meant. But, Cal was well for the time being. Their daughter Rose, who was named after Ben's mother, was 9 months old. This meant if she had an expiration date, it wasn't from the moment of her conception.

"We need to talk" He whispered as her eyes met his.

She nodded in agreement.

"I still have a meeting to get to and now I need to shower." She shrugged.

He let go of her hand and let her pass. He sat on the stair treads for several moments before gathering up his clothes and her discarded underwear and robe and following her upstairs.

He sat on the edge of their bed and dressed. He could hear the shower running. Grace's phone pinged with a text alert. He saw that the text was from her client. The meeting had to be rescheduled because of a burst pipe in one of the hotel ballrooms. He also looked though his emails and found he had one from the university reminded faculty that it was a school holiday. No classes and no office hours. It seemed like both he and Grace had the rest of the morning free.

Grace turned off the shower and stepped out into the steamy bathroom. She wrapped a towel around her body and shook the water from her hair. She knew she should have talked to Ben about her feelings about not wanting to get pregnant again. Yes, it was her choice, but she wanted and needed him to be a full partner in every aspect of her life for as long as possible.

She was slightly surprised to find him sitting on the edge of their bed when she entered their bedroom.

"You're still here?" She asked as she started looking through the closet.

He walked up and wrapped his arms around her, leaning his head on her shoulder. She melted into his embrace.

"You should have told me you didn't want any more children." He whispered into her hair.

When she turned around she had tears in her eyes.

"I would gladly have as many children as physically possible with you, Ben. But how many children should I have to lose? First Cal, and now Rose may have an expiration date too. Our baby deserves to grow up" She pleaded.

Ben knew she was right. He led her to the edge on the bed where she set down. He gently cupped her face in his hand and tilted her chin until her eyes met his.

"We are going to figure this out, Grace. The blood markers and the expiration dates. We are going to find a way around this. Grace, I am the smartest man we know and you are so strong. You inspire me every day not to give up and not to give in to despair. " He promised.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned her head against his chest and cried for several minutes and then felt better. She wiped her tears away and tried to smile.

"I'm a mess and I still have a meeting to get to and you have a class to teach." She started to stand up.

"Your meeting is going to have to be rescheduled because of a flooded ballroom emergency at the hotel and the university is closed today." He shrugged. It was a typical Ben thing to do. Forgetting that he didn't have class that day.

Grace opened her mouth to say something and then blew out a breath. She was perplexed.

"I don't have any other plans. I gave Rob the day off" Grace admitted.

"I know because I looked at your schedule." Ben admitted. They were passed keeping secrets from each other. He knew looking at her phone and reading her schedule wasn't an invasion of her privacy.

"I was hoping since both you and I have the day off, we could spend it together? I would be thrilled to spend the rest of the morning leisurely making love to my beautiful wife." He gave her an expectant look. "And I am uninstalling those apps from our phones. From now on, we control our own lives."

Grace whole heartedly agreed. She handed him her phone. "And after that, I would love to take my gorgeous husband to lunch." Grace added to his plans.

"Then we can drop by my dad's and pick up our daughter?" Ben suggested.

Grace mulled that suggestion over. "That could be a problem. You know how much your dad loves his Grandpa and Rose time." She teased.

"He'll just have to make an exception." Ben laughed. "Grace, we are going to be ok. We will figure this entire thing out." He promised as he gently kissed her forehead. She believed him for the first time in months.


End file.
